GakWonSa Temple Cheonan Traditional Cache
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A cache at a great sightseeing place in Cheonan
When you visit the town Cheonan, it may be difficult at the first glance to do sightseeing because the nice places are all a little bit outside of town and if you don’t know them you will most likely miss them on your trip. Therefore the idea of this cache is to bring you to a really beautiful place in Cheonan: The Gakwonsa Buddhist Temple at N36 50.061 E127 11.769. I put some pictures in the gallery to convince you that it’s worth while going there (half an hour from the city when you use a taxi). It is a large temple area with many beautifully decorated buildings which are still in use. The temple is famous for its huge bell and the big Buddha statue but also visit the golden Buddhas inside the uppermost building. When you are up there on the hill you also have a nice scenic view over Cheonan.
The Gakwonsa Temple was built at the top of Mt Taejo through the desire of those hoping for the unification of South and North Korea. The buildings are made of a wooden structure. The temple is famous for its Daewungjeon (main temple), the largest in Korea, its Seolbeopjeon (preaching hall), and buildings including Gwaneumjeon (Bodhisattva Hall). Here there is a 15m giant statue of Buddha seated in the lotus position. It is made of bronze, the ear of the statue is 1.75m long and the fingernail is 30cm long. The entire statue weighs 60 tons. It, along with the Holy Bell of the Sun, was made to pray for the unification.
Coming from the city of Cheonan you pass by the temple’s tranquil lake and you have to climb some steep steps, altogether 203 of them, which symbolize numbers from Buddhist scripture that stand for suffering, wishes, incarnation, affinity and spiritual treasures. Just after the steps, there is an intimate pathway through a forest of beautiful maple trees which will briefly distract you. The purpose of the trees is to keep the statue hidden away so that it can be an amazing surprise. As the pathway reaches its end, the sitting Buddha suddenly appears like a magic castle in a wonderland.
The bronze Buddha, with Mount Taejo in the background, meanwhile has oxidized to a moss green over the years. It sits on a granite pedestal that represents a lotus flower and has an imposing dignity. Although Gakwonsa’s Buddha looks ancient it was actually built in 1977 by a Korean-Japanese who had it constructed as a tribute to Buddha and a prayer for the unification of the two Koreas.
Gakwonsa is the second largest temple in Korea after Bulguksa in Gyeongju. Their statue is by far the largest sitting Buddha in Asia.
In order to not disturb the silence of the temple the cache is hidden behind the temple area in the forest. There you will find a couple of rocks piled up close to a place where the road comes up from the valley and meets a footpath to the place of the big Buddha statue. The cache is hidden under the rocks on the right of the pile (looking uphill). You may search a while until you’ll find it since it’s a small film canister and there are many rocks. If you loose patience use the spoiler pictures to identify the particular rock. I took the pictures during winter with some snow, so in summer the place may look different. Enjoy the silence and spirit of this beautiful place and have a nice hunting!
PS: If you have a better camera or you are visiting the cache during a different season please send me your photos!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Frr gur tnyyrel cvpgherf. Va n fznyy pnir orybj gur gvc bs gur ebpx ba juvpu gur cntbqn vf cynprq. Uvqqra oruvaq fgbarf naq jbbq.
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